Judy Murray is sometimes betrayed by her courtside appearance. That expression of long-practised indifference might have been hewn from stone and the close-cropped hair does little to soften the severity of her image as she watches her son, Andy, who is one of the best four tennis players in the world.

But that caricature had a makeover on Monday as she made her first appearance in her new role, in which she will work to improve the women's game across three platforms. The mother of Andy and Jamie is now looking for Angie Murray.

And as she stressed at the rain and windswept National Tennis Centre in Roehampton she wants to bring fun back to girls' tennis. Murray has been appointed Britain's Fed Cup captain and will lead the team in Israel in February. But, more than that, she will also mentor coaches and work alongside some of the best young players in the land.

"My coaching philosophy is about developing great co-ordination in kids at a very young age, so that whatever sport they want to try they will be able to play it fairly successfully," she said with a smile. "I believe in teaching variety at a young age, to slice, to drop shot, to change the pace, to absorb the pace. But while I do believe in good technique I also believe with young children it's about learning to love the game. And you will love the game if you not only can play it well but also have a lot of fun."

Murray, a former Scottish champion and her country's national coach for nine years, added: "I'm a big believer in developing skills in children at the right time. We could be criticised in this country for being too results-oriented at a young age and not investing as much time developing the 12-, 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds with a view to what we want them to look like at 18, 19, 20, 21. That's something I've always believed in, developing skills which allow you to progress more quickly when you get further into your teens. Because without that you're passing on kids of 15 and 16 who are trying to go into a professional career with limitations in their game, but who are already so far forward, because they've been doing it for eight or nine years."

But Murray's sometimes tough-as-nails look is not entirely misleading. Talking about one her best players, Elena Baltacha, she added: "I remember last year in Australia when Elena won her first round and she said she was so relieved because she was back in the top 100. And I said that's great but you've been there before. You know what it looks like. But what does the top 50 look like? Andy went quickly from the top 500 to the top 100. It's about looking at the right bits at the right time."

The LTA is coy about how much time it has contracted Murray for but it is estimated to be about 100 days. And we do not know the value of the Murray mint either, though she will not come cheap.

But she is delighted to strike a blow for women coaches. She said: "I've always been aware that female coaches are vastly outnumbered by the guys. When I did my performance coach award course back in 1994, the very first year of that course, there were only 20 places on it and 18 guys won places and only two women. There was me, who had two young children, and a 21-year-old girl. And someone – a man – tried to stop me getting one of those places because, he asked, how could I possibly commit myself to coaching tennis at a higher level with two young children."

And what do Andy and Jamie think about her new role? "They were delighted that I wouldn't be cramping their style so much in future," she said. And smiled again.